Out of Bounds by Dawn Ryder

their best to overwhelm her better judgment. She closed her hand into a fist and squeezed until her fingernails bit into her palms.
    “Sorry, I don’t do casual sex.” She couldn’t stop the small smile that curved her lips. “Even if the offer is tempting.”
    She drew herself up and started to turn her back on him. But he reached out and caught her chin with his thumb and forefinger.
    “There will be nothing casual about it.”
    There was a dark promise in his voice, one she was sure she was going to hear in her dreams for a really long time. But she shook his hold off and turned her back on him.
    “Now who’s trying to control their sexual encounters?” he shot at her back.
    She turned and sent him a hard look. “It’s called being wary. You want something completely different than I do.”
    He shook his head. “We both want to get naked and fuck. Call me what you will, but you will not label me dishonest. I want to get between your thighs and I’ve got the balls to say it. You had your leg around my hip because you wanted me inside you just as badly as I wanted to be there. You’re the one who can’t call a spade a spade.”
    He sat down at his desk, dismissing her.
    He had a point. She was trying to mold the attraction between them into something sweeter. The hard fact was, she wanted to jump his bones and didn’t really care about anything else when she was around him.
    It was humiliating to want him so badly that she was willing to skip past even a hint of a budding relationship. He’d be lightning to ride—she didn’t doubt it. What she truly questioned was her ability to walk away. It was fun to think of herself as that sophisticated, but the truth was, she doubted her heart was at freezing temperature—or at least cold enough for her to report to work on the same floor with him after he decided she was out of his system.
    Tarak’s heart was that cold though.
    Which was why she walked out of his office without a backward glance. He was everything she expected of a billion-dollar tycoon. Every action was razor-sharp. The intensity was normal for him, but she was pretty sure it was going to eat her alive.
    So she walked away.
    ***
    The day flew by too fast. Funneling her attention into impressing Tarak on a professional level kept her from dwelling on the fact that he had a point.
    She was being dishonest.
    But she was also her father’s daughter, and her daddy was right—values didn’t go out of style.
    It sucked.
    Seriously sucked.
    The facts were polar opposite to what she felt. It was all churning around inside her. When she left work, going home felt like some sort of surrender. She didn’t want to be predictable. Part of her wanted Tarak to guess where she was, to continue their stalking game, and he wouldn’t be doing that so long as she carried around a work phone with a location chip inside it.
    That thought gave her an impulse that had nothing to do with the way her boss turned her on. Sabra made a left turn and headed toward a strip mall. The rush-hour traffic was creeping along as the warm California sun set. She pulled smoothly into a parking place and entered the cell phone store. A fresh-faced kid with glasses greeted her.
    Okay, it was just a cell phone, but an hour later she was immensely pleased with her efforts. At least until she realized that she was still just as hung up on her boss.
    Total suckage.
    ***
    Anastasia showed up in her dreams.
    Sabra watched the blond coming closer while she was paralyzed, seeing the manicured fingernails with amazing clarity. Anastasia raised her fist and brought it down while Sabra lost the battle to contain her cry.
    She jerked awake, sitting up.
    Her bedroom was dark except for the splinters of light making their way through her closed blinds. The streetlamps outside her window burned all night long. It had been a nuisance when she first moved in, but tonight she enjoyed having just enough light to gain her bearings. Her forehead was wet